A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 090

31/March/2015, Day 090.  Tuesday.

It's Dodong's birthday today!  He is now one year old.

Here are Dodong, Kuya, and Old Grump with Dodong's cake:

 It was a DELICIOUS cake baked by the best cake maker in all of Macon, Auntie Joyce.

 Sweetie made sure that Dodong got a piece for himself:

Dodong thoroughly enjoyed his cake!

Lest you think that all we do is sit around and eat cake, here are Dodong, Old Grump, and Kuya, (Grump is the one with the big nose, in case you couldn't identify him!), sitting on the sofa reading the Dr. Seuss classic "Green Eggs and Ham".

It was a fine day for a birthday, and Dodong had a great one!  May he have many more happy, happy birthdays to come.

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 089

30/March/2015, Day 089.  Monday.

Although it was back to work for Old Grump, Kuya was home today, as he is out of school all week due to "spring break".  This puts extra work on Sweetie, who is already near her limit watching Dodong and doing all the other house chores.  And to this that she and Grump are currently dangerously tired to the the point of near nonfunctionality, and it should be no surprise she is on the verge of collapsing.

And the trees continue to pump out the pollen, assaulting our eyes, throats, and noses.

But these are all minor complaints.  We have enough to eat, we're all healthy, and the society we live in is prosperous, safe, and stable.  If you think about it this way, we've got it made!  God has granted us a life of ease unknown to most other folks, so it is our duty to not only not complain about the daily minor irritations, but to help others who don't have it as easy as us.

Sweetie and Grump are truly exhausted, and they want to go to bed NOW, so this will be all for tonight.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 088

29/March/2015, Day 088.  Sunday.

We still didn't get enough sleep, but we had a good day anyway!

First off we shrugged off our sluggishness and went to church.  It was an anniversary of some sort at the Filipino American Christian Fellowship here in central Georgia, so after the service we had a fellowship lunch.

Back home after lunch, Grump worked in the yard for a few hours while Sweetie chatted with Mama Sue and her daughter, and Kuya played with Mama Sue's grandkid.  Eventually Grump got tired, so he came inside and fussed with his latest obsession, clickworker.  This is his latest "get rich quickly with little effort" scheme, and his is spending hours on it just to pick up a few pennies here and there.  But once Grump is sure that he is on the path to fortune, there's no dissuading him until he finally figures out the folly of his ways for himself.

Dinner was take out Chinese; Sweetie didn't get a chance to cook since she was entertaining our visitors and watching Dodong all afternoon.  I feel bad for Sweetie this week, because starting tomorrow Kuya is on spring break, which means everyday she will have to be caring for a young boy and an infant, in addition to all the other minor household chores such as cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, etc.

Now once again it is late, and time for everyone with any sense to climb in bed.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 087

28/March/2015, Day 087.  Saturday.

Wow!  What a day! 

It started early, at 4:00 am.  Grump got a call from work informing him that a batch job abended.  When he tried to logon to work, the STUPID company PC he was given wouldn't connect over the STUPID company remote access network, and so because the STUPID remote access network no longer supports the anti-virus software that he was told by his company to buy, (!) for his own PC at home, Grump had to get dressed and drive in to work.

Once there the problem was apparent; a test job had failed because of an environment problem.  The solution was simple; rerun the job!  However, now that Grump was at work he stayed there, because he was supposed to support a new release of software that was going into Production today, and since he couldn't remote connect from home because of the limitations of the STUPID remote access network, he had to be at work anyway.  

He stayed at work several hours before his work was complete.  Once he got home it was about 8:30 am, and Dodong, Kuya, and Sweetie were all up, and eating breakfast.  Grump ate breakfast too, then we all headed to Sam's Club, to see if they had any mangoes.

We lucked out!  They had several boxes of the mangga carabao variety, which Grump affectionately calls "Filipina Mangoes".  These are the yellow, kidney shaped mangoes, and WOW are they yummy!  We picked up four boxes of them, and some other "essentials", then after a quick stop at Target for a brand of tissue Sweetie prefers, (remember the dreaded pollen!), we came home.

 While eating lunch Grump decided to check the mailbox, and we discovered that not only had the rent check from our condo in South Carolina arrived, but so too had a check from Grandma and Grandpa to help with Kuya's tuition next year.  Knowing the bank would be closing soon, we dropped everything and rushed off to deposit the checks, then after a side trip to Walmart to buy some hanging plants for outside, we came home again.

Back home we worked in the yard for a few hours, repotting some of our newly purchased plants and pulling the obnoxious weeds that had been threatening to overtake our various flower beds.  After this strenuous activity we were hungry, and since Sweetie was as tired as Grump, (she got even less sleep than him last night, believe it or not!), we decided to eat out at a Mexican restaurant.

Now remember that by this point we were getting a bit punchy from lack of sleep.  Even so, I'm not sure this fully explains Grump's bizarre behavior in the restaurant.  First he told the waitress to take Kuya's food before Kuya was even half done, then once realizing his mistake, he followed after her and tried to take Kuya's plate back.  Quickly he realized that was a dumb idea, as the plate had been mixed with the leftovers from other tables, so he put the plate back.  At least he tried to put the plate back.  Somehow it slid off the shelf where he put it, and with a loud crash shattered as it hit the floor, breaking into bits of porcelain and pieces food of all over the place.  The waitress just stared with a look of surprise and disgust, while an embarrassed Grump put his hands over his face, then muttering, "Sorry", slunk back to his table.

Back home again, we were all looking forward to a quiet end to the day, when Grump's cellphone rang.  It was work again, and apparently there was now a HUGE problem with some of the computer systems.  Grump was patched in to an ongoing conference call with several very nervous people.  But after several tense moments it became apparent that this problem did not involve the computer systems Grump is responsible for, so after confirming that it was okay with his manager, he called back and explained that he was available if needed, but that he could offer no specific help for the problem at hand.

The final chore of the day involved a clogged toilet and a tool called a toilet auger.  This was a nasty clog, and poor Grump had to repeatedly jam the auger into ..... oh, let's not get into too many details about this, shall we?  Suffice it to say it was unpleasant.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our day!  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 086

27/March/2015, Day 086.  Friday.

THE POLLEN IS STARTING TO KILL US ..... AAAGGGHHH!!!!

Sweetie and Grump and suffering from runny noses, itchy eyes, and scratchy throats.  Why?  Because of all the hyper-horny trees, that's why!  I told you all this spring time beauty has a cost!  The pollen is staining the sidewalks and coating our cars, and hammering our bodies.

Kuya had an Easter Egg hunt at school today.  He gathered up 14 plastic eggs, all nicely stuffed with sugar-laden, artificially flavored candy.  Yikes!  But Kuya is a clever boy.  He ate some of this crap, then gave most of it to Grump.  (Who, lacking any discipline whatsoever, will surely eat it all and make himself ill.)

It's getting cold tonight!  Grump had to bring in the calamondins and lemon grass, because it is likely to frost tonight and Saturday night.  Bummer!

That's all for today.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 085

26/March/2015, Day 085.  Thursday.

Wow!  It was a busy, busy day for Old Grump at work.  But that's a good thing, I suppose.  Keeps the old man on his toes, so to speak!

The weather here was beautiful again, as it's been for about two weeks now.  But would you believe that tomorrow night it is supposed to dip down to 25 F?  (That would be almost -4 celsius!)  Brrr!!  What is WRONG with the weather here, anyway?  Why is it so friggin' erratic?

Kuya got a simple paper mask at school a few days ago, but wow is it realistic looking, and creepy!  He's been wearing it around the house, freaking out Sweetie and Grump.  We think it is a bit .... uh .... unsettling.  What do you think?

Dinner tonight was kale, egg, and rice.  Sweetie did an excellent job cooking it all up, so it was actually tasty.  But I must admit it was a let-down from the yummy steak she cooked last night.

Old Grump has been puttering around with an online site that pays you to do "tasks".  So far it seems pretty cool.  If it actually pays out, (if it's not a scam like Bubblews), I'll let y'all know.

That's it for today!  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 084

25/March/2015, Day 084.  Wednesday.

The cherry blossoms are just so beautiful around here this year, we just can't resist posting a few more pics!

This group of trees is at the entrance to our subdivision.  I think they're some of the best around.  (My pics don't do them justice!)

This is a tree in our neighbor's yard:

Here is a close up of a blossom:

Unlike the Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom festival, where the trees are planted around mostly one spot, (the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial), in Macon the cherry trees are spread out all through the neighborhoods, particularly in North Macon.  Because of this they're a little harder to find, but when you come across a tree-lined street all in bloom, oh how lovely!

Another difference between the two festivals is that the trees here in Macon always seem to actually bloom when the festival is being held, unlike the trees in D.C., whose blooming times seem to be more erratic.

All this beauty does come at a cost, however:

No, that is not paint, but rather millions of pollen particles that accumulated in a low spot near our garage after a slight rain.  Can you imagine all those nasty things being air-borne?  Grump and Sweetie are currently well pollenated, and suffering from watery eyes, scratchy throats, and sinus headaches.

As far as family news goes today, I need to mention some steak that Sweetie cooked.  Now Sweetie likes her beef cooked very, very well done, ("burnt", Grump would say), and sometimes ..... well, sometimes very, very well done beef has every last bit of flavor blasted out of it.  But tonight she did something different.  She marinated the steak in a honey based sauce before cooking it, and after cooking the steak longer than any reasonable person would allow, it came out DELICIOUS!  Both Sweetie and, significantly, Grump, (who prefers his beef medium rare), declared that it was about the best beef they had ever eaten.

So if you, or your significant other, require your beef to be thoroughly nuked before you'll eat it, marinating it first in a honey sauce is a trick you can try to give it a wonderful flavor.

Now it is late: Sweetie is ill from the pollen, and Dodong is crying from teething pain.  Time to wrap this up for today.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 083

24/March/2015, Day 083.  Tuesday.

Old Grump is excited right now!  Not only did he squeeze in a few minutes to putter with his online business tonight, (PLEASE don't upset him by asking him how much "profit" his "business" has created!), but he also set up a coupon page on his neglected Fishbowl site.  Woo hoo! 

If creating a coupon page or viewing one interests you, you can read more about it here:  http://www.owlsandcuckoos.blogspot.com/2015/03/another-online-income-source.html . 

Back to the important stuff .....

When Sweetie picked up Kuya from school this afternoon, his teacher made a point of telling her that Kuya is doing an EXCELLENT job of reading.  Not bad for a Kindergartner!  Old Grump specifically remembers how he first learned to read in first grade.  (He's so old his first books were the "Dick and Jane" series.)

Yesterday we changed out Dodong's crib for a larger enclosure.  Hard to explain, but it's basically a baby safe plastic fence arranged in a circle.  He has much more room to crawl around, but he still gets fussy if left in it too long.  Dodong wants to roam free just like the rest of us!

Sweetie was tired today, (as always!), and she is beginning to get the runny eyes and sneezes she always gets this time of year, with the arrival of the dreaded ..... POLLEN!  There are just too many horny trees in this state for her comfort.

Currently Grump and Sweetie are reading together a very good relationship book, "His Needs Her Needs", by Dr. Willard Harley.  If you're gonna read any book on strengthening your marriage, this is the one!  Every spouse needs to beg, borrow, or buy a copy today.  Trust me, if you are married, you will thank me!

That's it for today.  Goodnight all! 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 082

23/March/2015, Day 082.  Monday.

Back to work and school day!

Although rainy, it was basically a pleasant enough day.  Kuya was back at school and Grump was back at work, while Sweetie and Dodong stayed home and folded laundry.

It appears we may have a major expense popping into our lives soon.  The sofit, (fascia?  bottom part of the roof?), near the far corner of our garage is rotting, and it appears that the problem is with our roof.  We knew when we bought this house that the folks who "fixed it up" did a poor job applying the shingles on the roof.  I guess they did even a worse job than we supposed.

For dinner we had pizza from Papa John's, then afterwards Grump foolishly watched another "make money via affiliate marketing!" webinar.  Once again, all he accomplished was to waste precious time and irritate the heck out of Sweetie.

Sweetie wants to go to bed now, so ....... goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 081

22/March/2015, Day 081.  Sunday.

After the fantastic day yesterday, it was inevitable today would be a bit of a downer.

The weather was cruddy: it was cold and rainy almost all day.  And Grump was in a cruddy mood to match.  He went to bed late last night, and tossed and turned and twitched for hours before he could finally fall asleep.  (Must have been the energy drink he had yesterday afternoon?)  Then of course the kids were up early, so Grump woke up tired and surely.  Grrr!!!

But we still managed to have a decent day.  Sweetie make pancakes for breakfast, then we had lentil stew for lunch, with a few small fried mackeral as a side dish.  After that Grump needed a quick nap, but once he woke up we went for a short drive just to get out of the house.  (Yeah ..... we skipped church.  The devil used the bad weather as an excuse to coerce us not to go!)  We got some bagels, (and mac and cheese for Kuya), from Panera as a snack, then came back home to get out of the rain.

Evening was spent picking at odds and ends for dinner, then just as we were getting ready for bed the power went out.  Fortunately it came back on after twenty minutes or so, but while it was out we had our scented candles lit and strategically placed around the home.

So now, once again, we will prepare for bed.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 080

21/March/2015, Day 080.  Saturday.

Today was another busy day!  We woke up early, (for a Saturday), and drove down to Central City Park in Macon for some pink pancakes.  These are served up today and next Saturday as part of the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival, which is held every year around this time to celebrate the blooming of the yoshino cherry trees.  We happen to live just down the street from "cherry blossom central", which is none other than the Fickling Farm, where cherry trees line Rivoli Drive and Northside Drive all along the farm's property line.  These pictures we took from prior years may give you an indication of what it looks like:

 

 

We even have a group of cherry trees right outside our subdivision:
 

Sometimes the wisteria and asaleas bloom at the same time, which is extraordinarily lovely:

 Okay ..... enough cherry tree appreciation!

After our pancake breakfast we drove up I-75 towards McDonough, to go to Babies-R-Us.  This was an expensive trip: we purchased lots and lots and lots of baby food for Dodong, as well as some other necessities.  Total cost was about $200.00, which went straight to our beleaguered American Express credit card.

After a brief diversion to T.J.Maxx we headed home, unloaded our newly purchased goodies, then headed over to Publix for some weekly food purchases.  Back home from that shopping trip Grump cut the grass, (and - good grief! - got sunburned! - in March!!), then came in to help Sweetie. 

It was obvious, even to Grump, that Sweetie was suffering from exhaustion.  Grump bribed her to go to bed and take a nap by promising to take her out to dinner.  She took him up on his offer, crawled into bed, and promptly fell asleep!

Sweetie slept for 45 minutes or so.  After she awoke, we all got cleaned up a bit, then headed out to one of her favorite restaurants, a Japanese place called Taki.  (By the way, "taki" in Bisaya means something like "poop", or so Sweetie tells me!)  We had a yummy dinner, which dinged the credit card another $60.00.

Never underestimate the cost of raising two or more children!  Besides the obvious, (diapers, food, school costs, etc.), two or more children exact a wear and tear on your body and mind which seem best relieved by expensive things such as eating out at a good restaurant.  Yes children are priceless, which is a good thing, because they sure drain your finances!

Now it is late.  Everyone but the Old Grump is peacefully sleeping, and Grump will be joining them soon too.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 079

20/March/2015, Day 079.  Friday.

It was a busy, exciting day!  Today was Father and Son Kite Flying Day at Kuya's school, so Old Grump took a day off work to attend this momentous event.

We woke up early, (too early for Grump, as it turns out), to take Kuya to school, then Grump paid his re-enrollment fee for next year.  (He also nearly had a heart attack when he saw how much tuition is going to be for a first grader!)  Then Grump, Sweetie and Dodong went to Panera for a leisurely breakfast, followed by a shopping trip to Sam's Club for diapers, wipes, some fruit, (papayas, blueberries, strawberries), and other stuff we can't live without.  We would up spending almost $200.00 at Sam's Club, which was nearly the cause of a second heart attack for Grump.

After some cruddy mall food for lunch, (I won't say who is to blame for that suggestion, Sweetie!), Grump went back over to Kuya's school, where he joined the Kuya, the other kids, and the other kids' dads, in a vain attempt to fly kites on a day with almost no wind.  But it was fun running up and down the football field, and Grump did not over exert himself and need CPR.

After Kuya and Grump arrived back home we all went for a stroll at the Riverside mall, inexplicably getting caught in a brief shower despite the sunshine.  This was a productive trip, because Sweetie was able to purchase eight panties at Victoria's Secret for less than $35.00.

Once back home from all that, the cumulative effect of the lack of good sleep for the past few weeks finally caught up with Grump, and he slept from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.  Now it is late, (nearly midnight!), so we all need to climb back into bed, and rest up for an exciting day tomorrow.

Goodnight all! 

P.S.  -  Grump has been working on his affiliate marketing videos on YouTube, and supporting documents on his Buying Nirvana website.  They don't amount to a whole lot yet, but any feedback you could give him would be appreciated!


25/March/2015 Update  -  a pic of the kite we were trying to fly:

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 078

19/March/2015, Day 078.  Thursday.

It's a good thing we have Vonage, because Sweetie was on the phone last night with Lola for almost an hour.  Considering that Lola is in the Philippines, this would have cost us a bunch of money if we were paying for the call with a calling card.

So what happened yesterday?  Not a whole lot.  It was a typical work/school day.  Dinner was unripe jackfruit, (cooked as a veggie), rice, and egg.  We assembled Kuya's kite for kite flying day on Friday, but it looks like it will rain tomorrow, so the kites may not get air-borne after all.

Grump hasn't had time to devote to his affiliate marketing "business", and he is starting to get frustrated about it.  Oh well ..... once you have kids, your time is not your own.

That wraps up today.  How about a few lawyer jokes, (from  http://www.iciclesoftware.com/LawJokes/IcicleLawJokes.html ), to end this post:

Q: How are an apple and a lawyer alike?
A: They both look good hanging from a tree.

Q: What's the difference between a jellyfish and a lawyer?
A: One's a spineless, poisonous blob. The other is a form of sea life.

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a trampoline?
A: You take off your shoes before you jump on a trampoline.

Q: How does an attorney sleep?
A: First he lies on one side, then he lies on the other.

Q: What do you call 25 attorneys buried up to their chins in cement?
A: Not enough cement.


Q: What do you call 25 skydiving lawyers?
A: Skeet.
Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 077

18/March/2015, Day 077.  Wednesday.

"Husbands are the best people to share secrets with.  They'll never tell anyone, because .... they aren't even listening!"  A quote from Facebook Sweetie found today, that she really likes.

It was a typical hump day for us.  Sweetie was extremely tired, as Dodong was up most of the night with sore gums, (he's teething).  Grump responded to this emergency by running away; he went upstairs to sleep in Lola's room.  (Lola's in the Philippines right now.)  He didn't win any cool points from Sweetie for this selfish maneuver, but he did get some sleep.

To make up for this minor indiscretion, Grump has to watch Dodong all evening while Sweetie relaxes by playing on the PC and calling Lola.  (We have Vonage, so we pay a flat monthly rate for our phone calls, which includes phone calls to the Philippines.) 

On this and other blogs Grump has often praised MMM, ( http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ ), as a website you should read frequently.  He has been repeating this over and over and over to Sweetie, who is getting a bit irritated with hearing it.  Well, today Grump was finally forced to admit that sometimes MMM does go a wee bit over the top.  From http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/02/06/the-radiant-heat-experiment-did-it-work/ :

“I found that each 250 square foot zone took about eight hours of work. But not just a casual eight hours that flies by like it does when installing kitchen cabinets while your radio plays happy bluegrass music in the background.  This is eight hours of proper torture, crawling in a 40-inch-high space with sharp rocky dirt beneath and obstacle-laden floor joists above. Even the slightest movement stirs up thick dust, so you have to wear a full-face respirator. That’s handy, since the grinder also throws down hot metal sparks towards your eyes and face. Gloves and kneepads are essential too. And ear protection. It’s dark down there, so you also have a bright LED headlamp strapped over top of all the other accessories on your head. But the ground-driven temperature of 60 degrees is far too warm for the work pants and long sleeves you need to wear to avoid skinning your arms and legs, so you also sweat a lot. In general, I could only withstand about 2 hours of this work at a time, so each zone was done over four days.”

“But if the paragraph above sounds horrible, you’re just thinking about it wrong. This is voluntary hardship at its best. The physical and mental benefits of crawling and sweating and fighting with stubborn tools and materials for so many hours are incomparable. Every possible move is constrained, so you must overcome the constraints with strategy and strain. The feeling of suiting up and descending into the crawlspace each morning while knowing I could earn much more money by outsourcing the activity and instead simply typing a bit more shit into this computer was enlightening. The feeling of emerging two hours later into the fresh air and bright sunlight, stripping off the dusty clothes and seeing the beauty of the world again was life itself.”

Ugh!  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be “stuck” in a comfortable office than crawling around under a house fighting with nails and stiff piping and various creepy crawlies!  If that is what “Early Retirement via Financial Independence” is all about, then I want no part of it!






So ....... may we all have long, happy, safe, comfortable careers!  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 076

17/March/2015, Day 076.  Tuesday.

Happy St. Patrick's day, the day when one-and-all are Irish, at least here in the USA.

It is another late night, and Dodong is currently screaming, setting Sweetie's nerves on edge.  She and Grump did manage to get Kuya asleep, (who can apparently sleep through anything), but Dodong is a very light sleeper, and before Kuya drifted off into slumber he apparently was loud enough to get Dodong all upset.  Grrr!!!

Grump is frustrated because he's been wanting to spend time on his "affiliate marketing business", but for the past week between Dodong and calls from work, he's spent maybe 30 minutes total on it.

Well ..... Dodong seems to have FINALLY settled down, so maybe it is time for all of us to go to bed before the next round of screaming resumes.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 075

16/March/2015, Day 075.  Monday.

It was back to work for Grump, but NOT back to school for Kuya, as he had a day off today.  So Sweetie got to watch both Kuya and Dodong all day.  Now she is tired!

Grump is discovering that it is extremely difficult to find the time to get his affiliate marketing business up and going, because once he is home from work, it is his turn to "mind the kids".  Grump and Sweetie are eagerly anticipating the day when Lola returns from the Philippines.

We don't have much else to say right now, so we're gonna cut this post short and go to bed.  Goodnight all!

p.s.  -  Grump thinks this is a good article on economising your use of a car:  http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/columnists/brian-j-oconnor/2015/03/16/oconnor-roadmasters-end-puts-savings-plan-gear/24821039/  Drive it into the ground! 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 074

15/March/2015, Day 074.  Sunday.

At what point does insensitive cluelessness cross over into deliberate bad intent?  This is an appropriate question for the Ides of March, huh?

Today was a scheduled "tea party" for Sweetie, Kuya, and Dodong.  After some early morning rushing around with last minute cleaning, we hurried off to church, and ..... got an unpleasant surprise.  I can't go into too much detail here, but a certain clueless couple did something that adversely affects Kuya.  This put Old Grump into a bad mood which he has yet to snap out of, (it's late evening now).

Despite that, the "tea party" was a success.  Everyone had a great time drinking coffee, tea, or hot cocoa, and eating halo-halo.  (A Philippine ice-cream treat which, believe it or not, contains BEANS!)  Kuya romped around with his church friends, and even Dodong got to "play" with a little girl his own age.

Now it is late, so we need to get ready for bed.  Goodnight all! 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 073

14/March/2015, Day 073.  Saturday.

PI DAY!! We hope all of you had a wonderful 3.14!  Did you celebrate?

Grump did NOT get woken up by a call from work in the wee hours of the night last night.  Halle-friggin'-lujah!!  We are still suffering from a lack of sleep, but at least today we were, (mostly) functional.

After sleeping in late we went shopping, then had lunch at what used to be a Vietnamese restaurant in Warner Robbins, but is now a very good Thai place.  It is called Monsoon, and it is on 129, (also called 247 south), directly across from Robins Air Force Base.  We believe it is the best Thai restaurant in central Georgia.  Give it a try, and let us know what you think.

While eating we had an accident; a full glass of iced tea was spilled across the table.  Who do you think did this?  Was it Dodong, the young infant?  Nope.  Was it Sweetie, who is exhausted from late nights tending to Dodong?  Nope.  Oh .... then it must be Kuya, who is overflowing with the barely controlled energy of a six year old.  Nope again.  Hmmm ..... could it possibly have been Old Grump? Yes indeed: Old Grump knocked over a glass of iced tea, barely missing soaking Dodong and Kuya.  It was so bad we had to move to another table.

When we got home from that adventure we took a nap, then later this evening Sweetie decided she needed to bake some cookies for a "tea party" she is hosting tomorrow.  She had never cooked chocolate chip cookies before.  Grump warned her about trying a new recipe when inviting over friends, but she persisted, and would up with MEGA-COOKIE!

MEGA-COOKIE, in its glory.  (One piece was removed for a taste test.)










Not everything turned out poorly.  For example, our Amaryllis timed its blooming perfectly to coincide with the tea-party:

  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 072

13/March/2015, Day 072.  Friday.

For the THIRD night in a row, Grump got an after midnight call from work.  (Two different calls, actually.)  This is getting beyond ridiculous!  How can Grump, (and Sweetie), possibly function if they are going to get awakened in the middle of the night, every night!

Still, Grump was able to sit all day at his desk in a vegetative haze, and his boss let him go home early, so I suppose his job is a heck of a lot better than many other jobs out there.  Besides, he works inside, where it is nice and warm, (or cool, when the weather outside is hot), and there are no snakes or biting insects wandering around to bother him.

Sweetie and Kuya are currently at Bible study, while Grump is watching a sleeping Dodong.  Dodong didn't like the idea that he was left behind while Sweetie went out, so it took a while for him to settle down and fall asleep.

Did you know that tomorro, March 14th, is PI DAY?

Over and out for now ...... I've way too tired to type anything coherent tonight.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 071

12/March/2015, Day 071.  Thursday.

For the second night in a row, Grump got an after midnight call from work.  GRRR!!! Hopefully we will all be able to sleep soundly tonight.

Just 10 days or so after we've had extreme cold here in central Georgia, now we are having extreme heat.  It's been in the 80's, (upper 20's celsius), the last few days.  As we sit here typing away on our laptop in the dining room, we're HOT!!  Grump insists on NOT turning on the air-conditioning, as he insists it will cool off tonight, but in the meantime it sure is uncomfortable in our house.

I guess some exciting news is that Grump FINALLY made an affiliate marketing sale!  Thanks to a co-worker who agreed to use his Amazon link when ordering some office supplies, he made $4.80!  It's the start of an empire folks!

(He did NOT include this sale on his latest update of online income because, well, it's March now, and the update was supposed to be for February.)

Hooray for Amazon!  Double hooray for Lanette!

This is my Amazon link: Amazon.com  Click away, ye Amazon shoppers!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 070

11/March/2015, Day 070.  Wednesday.

Happy Hump Day!  Oh, you've heard that one before?  

Sweetie is still fairly stressed, but she seems to be slowly getting over it.  What helps is Grump taking care of the kids when he gets home from work, until it is time to go to bed.  This means poor Grump can't spend his time on the computer, (aaahh!), but he'll live through it.

It was a typical Wednesday.  Grump survived work, and Sweetie survived watching Dodong, and then watching Dodong and Kuya.  How about some pics today, instead of words?

Kuya being weird. 


  

Dodong in his carseat.

 Old Sweaty Grump

 A Group of sexy Filipinas!  (That's Sweetie on the far right.)









Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 069

10/March/2015, Day 069.  Tuesday.

It was a very stressful day for Sweetie, who is beginning to feel overwhelmed with taking care of three children: an infant, (Dodong), a young boy, (Kuya), and a helpless husband, (Old Grump).  If you know anything about families, you know that, "Ain't nobody happy if Mama ain't happy!", so it was a bit tense around here today, to say the least.

Grump had promised to take care of Dodong after work so that Sweetie could catch up on some laundry, but Kuya, who was apparently a little under the weather today, was super jealous about the attention Dodong was receiving, and proceeded to act up all evening.  This did nothing to help Sweetie's mood, and at one point caused her to scream at him!  Ugh.  Not a happy scene.

There was one tension relieving moment that occured as we were getting ready for bed.  Sweetie had put her night shirt on, without realizing that there was a little spider in it.  The spider crawled out from her shoulder and began to walk across her chest when she noticed it, and with a loud, "Aagh!", brushed it to the floor.  We all had a good laugh at that.  (Okay, maybe you had to be there to appreciate it, but after the evening we had it was funny.)

Too bad we had such drama in the household, because today was a very beautiful day here in central Georgia.  With luck the bitter cold is gone for good this year, and won't be back until early 2016.

Grump did manage to upload another YouTube video to his YouTube channel.  It is about his attempts at affiliate marketing, and may be worth watching just to see the three boys in action.  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diBRZky29-Y .

Goodnight all! 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 068

09/March/2015, Day 068.  Monday.

Monday, monday, back to work and/or school day.

Nice weather has returned, (finally!), to central Georgia, at least for the time being.  It appears it won't be getting chilly again until Sunday night.

Now would be the time Grump would be working in the yard, preparing everything for our brief growing season before the searing heat of summer, except that "time" is something Grump has in extremely short supply right now.  He has been trying (unsucessfully!) to start an online affiliate marketing business, (you can read about his trials and tribulations here:  http://buyingnirvana.com/words/novice-affiliate-part-01/ ), but so far the lack of time has been strangling this business before it can even be born.  How will he ever be able to squeeze in yard work?

Maybe once Lola comes back, things will change?  I know this: anyone who has two young children and thinks that they'll get much done other than take care of them is crazy!  (Or has a nanny!)

So what else is new?  Well, we're such dopes when it comes to new technology that we drove back to Verizon because we thought our iPad was broken.  It had just "locked" itself, (why?  what causes that?), and the solution was to do a simple two-key reboot.

Grump really thinks http://rockstarfinance.com/ is a great website, and he encourages any-and-all to check it out on a daily basis.  By the way ..... we are on the notorious Blogger Net Worth page.  Do you think you can find us?

Sweetie is anxious to go to bed now, so I'm gonna cut this post short.  Good night!

P.S.  -  although he's fallen behind on updates, (that dreaded "lack of time" problem again), Grump is trying to post some videos on YouTube describing his (non-existent) Affiliate Marketing business.  Here's a link to his channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs1B7qKE3UuOf5U6b54vMlg .

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 067

08/March/2015, Day 067.  Sunday.

The day started off poorly.  Dodong was awake and wailing from 2:00 am to 4:00 am.  He is teething, and his gums are very, very sore.  Poor Dodong!

Then soon after that Kuya had a bad dream.  He briefly awoke, shouting, "Dad is eating my cupcake!"  After Grump assured him that this was simply a dream he was having, and that no one would take his cupcake, Kuya fell asleep again, only to fully awaken about an hour later.

Despite all this sleep-depriving activity, we were able to go to church this week.  Hooray!  After church we drove down to Warner Robins, to go to the Filipino Grocery store to buy fish, veggies, and other goodies.

Back home .... well, I don't remember exactly what we did back home, because we're all so darn tired.  Grump fussed a lot, and even Sweetie grumbled a bit.  Oh yeah .... we ate lunch, drove to Goodwill to drop off some stuff, stopped by Kroger's to get some fruit and goodies, then just laid back at home.  

Kuya and Grump played a game of BusyTown; they whipped the pig's butts!  (The pigs only got to eat one picnic item.)

So now it is late, and we all should be in bed, but Dodong was wailing again, so Grump had to drive all the way back to Krogers to buy some Baby Orajel to soothe his aching gums so that he, and the rest of us, may get some sleep!

Goodnight all! 

   

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 066

07/March/2015, Day 066.  Saturday.

Despite Grump being in a fairly foul mood for a good bit of the day, (so what else is new?), we actually accomplished quite a lot, and had lots of fun too!

We started out with a trip to Panera for breakfast, paid for with some gift cards we got from our American Express credit card.  (No doubt they're appreciative of all the interest money we're giving them!)   After that it was a shopping trip to Publix for food, then after a quick trip home Grump and Kuya left for a visit to the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences.

They had planned on loitering in the mini-zoo, but when they got there, the parking lot was packed.  As it turns out, today was a special "Teddy Bear Clinic" day.  Sponsored by the Macon Children's Hospital, it was a free event where you received a "sick" teddy bear, and walked through various exhibits showing how your bear would be treated and healed.

Kuya named his bear "Scamper".  Scamper had a sore throat and stuffy nose, but with plenty of care he was soon on his way to being well again.

Back home, Sweetie had made a delicious lunch, chicken arroz caldo, made with quinoa and white pepper.  It was yet another yummy Sweetie creation!  

After a big lunch Grump just mostly laid about and grumped for a few hours, basically making everyone around him miserable, until finally Sweetie, (who quite frankly had had enough of his crap!), and Kuya convinced him that they should all go walked at the nearby outdoor mall.  So we got ourselves ready, and with the aid of a clever map Kuya drew up before we left, we wandered around the mall, checking out the merchandise at Dillards and Belks, and in general just walking all over the place.

By now it was nearing dinner time, and Grump was beginning to feel a bit ashamed and guilty about his prior poor behavior, so he suggested that they eat out tonight.  Because of some stupid credit card debt we've been lugging around for a few months we had earlier planned on not eating out this weekend, (Panera was paid for with gifts cards, remember?),  but we were all tired and hungry, and it seemed like such a great idea that we just went ahead and did it.  

We stopped by the Texas Roadhouse restaurant and had delicious meals for about $40.00 total, including tip.   It was great fun, and Sweetie was able to pay for it all in cash with some money she's been saving from her grocery budget.

Here are some pics of us having a good time.  Sorry for the poor quality; they were taken on a cellphone.

Kuya, Sweetie, and Dodong, laughing away!




 

Old Grump acting silly.